LOWER OXFORD – It was the biggest single outing for the Lincoln men’s basketball program in six long, painful, loss-filled seasons – and for a huge portion of Saturday’s regular-season finale against Virginia State at Rivero Gymnasium, the Lions played so poorly, it looked like just a continuation of all that misery.

Trailing by as many as 14 points midway through the second half, Lincoln finally caught fire down the stretch to blitz the stunned Trojans, 61-54, and capture outright possession of the CIAA Northern Division championship. It was the school’s first team title in any sport since making the move from Division III to II and joining the CIAA in 2010.

“Everybody here looks to the basketball team to carry the banner for the school,” said sophomore center Will Cole. “We did what we had to do to bring our school a championship.

“After the game, our locker room was crazy. I know (head coach John) Hill is proud of us and we are proud of each other. We’re also happy for coach. He deserves this.”

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You could argue that the victory and subsequent title represent the defining moment for the entire LU athletic program in the last few years. It was, undoubtedly, the high-water mark for a basketball program that’s been down since a 20-win season and an NCAA Division III Sweet 16 appearance in 2007.

During the ensuing five seasons, the Lions went 31-103 and bottomed out when former head coach Garfield Yuille resigned in May of 2010 after being implicated for using ineligible players by the NCAA. The investigation led to 17 penalties, including three years’ probation, that won’t expire until the end of this academic year.

Hill was hired as Yuille’s replacement, and despite facing a massive rebuilding effort, he’s orchestrated a big turnaround in just his third season at the helm.

“This is phenomenal for our program,” Hill said. “The turnaround we’ve experienced in such a short time is kind of hard to believe. When I came to Lincoln in late September of 2010, we only had four basketball players from the previous year’s team. We had to pick up 11 walk-ons who had never played college basketball before.

“This is a program that has come from the bottom and has been trying to work itself to respectability,” Hill added. “So to win a division title in my third year – and it’s really year number two because I started so late that first season – it is truly amazing.”

Thanks to winning seven of its final eight games, and five in row, Lincoln wraps up a 17-9 regular season. And at 8-2 in the division, the Lions edged Elizabeth City State (who fell Saturday at Bowie State) by a full game in the standings and head into the postseason as the No. 1 seed on their side of the CIAA bracket. They will enjoy a first round bye on Tuesday in Charlotte and will play the Bowie St./Shaw winner in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

“This is at the top for me and my career,” said Hill, who has previously been a CIAA head coach at Virginia State and St. Paul’s. “We were at a point this season where we were just trying to win one game to stay in the race. And if we hadn’t been able to keep winning that next game and the next, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

Spring break started at LU started Friday, which led to a rather sparse crowd, but everybody that showed up saw Lincoln outscore the Trojans 22-5 to take its first lead of the afternoon with just over three minutes remaining. And then, with the outcome and the title on the line, LU outscored Virginia State 13-6 over the final 3:21, thanks to a 3-pointer by George Jackson (15 points), a bucket and a foul shot by unsung hero Chris Kinney (career-high seven points), and a tip-in by Cole (10 points). The Lions then closed it out by burying 5-6 from the free throw line in the closing seconds.

“Early on, we just weren’t hitting shots we normally make, but we knew were eventually going to make them,” said junior point guard Derrick Washington, who scored all 16 of his points in the second half.

“I knew at some point we’d find a way to make a few shots,” Hill added. “And once we got the momentum, we could feel it and we were kind of reaching for it pretty strong.”

Other than sustaining some sort of catastrophic injury, however, much of the first half couldn’t have possibly been any more disastrous for Lincoln. The Lions missed seven of their first eight shot attempts and quickly fell behind, 14-2 just eight minutes in.

“I felt like we had a good season and if the players gave me their best effort, I could live with the result,” Hill said. “But Virginia State allowed us to hang around. At the half I told the guys, ‘as bad as you played, heck, you’re only down 10 points.’”

NOTES: Lincoln’s leading scorer, Kenny Sharpe, played just seven scoreless minutes due to an ankle injury suffered last week. His status for the CIAA Tournament is uncertain … A 6-foot-6 backup forward, Kinney knocked down three critical free throws in the second half even though he went into the game 0-2 from the line for the entire season. He also chipped in with four rebounds. “That was undoubtedly his best performance all season,” Hill said. … The Lions outscored VSU (4-6, 12-14) 44-27 in the final 20 minutes.